Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis arrives during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, Friday, March, 1, 2024, in Atlanta (AP Photo/Alex Slitz, Pool).
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has finally agreed to meet with Georgia state legislators intent on quizzing the prosecutor about her and her office”s efforts against President Donald Trump.
Peach State Sen. Bill Cowsert, a Republican who represents the college town of Athens, is the chair of the Senate Special Committee on Investigations. That committee has been looking into Willis for years. Since the summer of 2024, Cowsert has been intent on getting Willis to talk under oath about her long-frustrated Trump crusade.
Though Willis has resisted those efforts since their inception, attorneys for the district attorney on Friday struck a deal, pending some last-minute negotiations, that will limit the scope of the inquiry.
“We’re agreeing to limit some of the areas of questioning,” Cowsert said during a Friday press conference. “I’m negotiating that with her attorneys now and wanted to make sure that she wasn’t in a position to say I can’t answer that question because I’m under investigation.”
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Still, the lead investigator is now optimistic about the likelihood of an end to the months-in-the-making stalemate.
“She has agreed to testify in front of our committee, to honor our subpoena,” he said, according to reports by Atlanta-based ABC affiliate WSBÂ and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
At the same time, Cowsert harkened back to the long and winding — and often contentious — process that resulted in the agreement.
“She can’t continue to create this impression that the laws don’t apply to her — that she’s being an obstructionist,” he added.
The focus of the committee’s investigation is how Willis spent public funds on her failed racketeering (RICO) and election interference investigation into the 45th and 47th president — and whether any funds earmarked for other purposes were improperly diverted.
A subpoena was issued by the Georgia state Senate in August 2024, but it appeared superfluous at first. The prosecutor was slated to appear and speak under oath at a public hearing held by the committee that September — but ultimately she was a no-show.
Around the same time, Cowsert moved to enforce an older subpoena against Willis for documents and testimony — as well as the latest subpoena. In turn, Willis and her office filed for a permanent injunction to stop the subpoenas from being enforced.
In early December 2024, attorneys for the parties argued the general issues in the case as well as for and against the possibility of Willis being held in contempt. On Dec. 23, 2024, the court ruled in the committee’s favor on the basic question of the subpoena power — denying the district attorney’s request for an injunction.
In January, Willis filed a new motion relying on a wholly separate argument. She argued the 2024 subpoenas were moot and should be quashed or dismissed because the November 2024 election necessarily resulted in a brand new General Assembly being sworn in.
In February, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura L. Ingram tersely rejected Willis’ mootness argument as “absurd.”
In early March, Willis signaled she would comply — partially. The district attorney said she would produce some of the requested documents and had largely agreed upon the contours of a sit-down with legislators but expressed concerns regarding “a potential disagreement regarding the scope” of certain privileges.
In late March, the special committee waxed hopeful, but one of the other Republican members said he had “limited confidence” Willis was acting in good faith and expressed the notion of exploring additional options should further deadlines whoosh by.
Now, it appears the loggerheads is at an end.
And even one of Willis’ fellow Democrats — only two of whom serve on the committee investigating her — welcomed the move.
“I think it’ll be interesting to have her come up here,” Peach State Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harold Jones, who represents Augusta, said. “I think that’s a good thing. She’s been the center of attention so much. Should be good for her to actually come and get her side of it, so to speak.”
